n. forest tree of lowland Central America having a strong very light wood; used for making floats and rafts and in crafts

n. strong lightweight wood of the balsa tree used especially for floats

Etymologies

Spanish.

(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

From Spanish barco. (Wiktionary)

Examples

Cuban martyrdom is not new - whether we speak of those Don Quixotes who took up arms against the revolution early on, the many would-be Mandelas who rotted in prison or the families who perished on boats fleeing the island, giving a moral meaning to the Spanish word balsa "(raft).

I used thirty-second of an inch balsa for a lot of applications, especially as it could be scribed into weatherboards (clapboard siding?) and with care into corrugated iron and provided it was painted with an oil based paint the scribed indentations became permanent.

For those unfamiliar with the term, as I was until I showed up for the party at the IAC Building, that undulating Frank Gehry structure on the Hudson River and 18th Street, decoupage refers to gluing stickers to things, in this case a balsa—or at least some kind of wood—replica of the vehicle being feted.